1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 198519861987 1988 1989

1986 Movies

Take a nostalgic look back at the top movies of 1986, celebrating the films, directors and actors that defined the year and left a lasting legacy in the world of entertainment.

1986 Academy Awards

Aliens
Written by: James Cameron
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Country: United States of America
Outline: Ellen Ripley returns to the planet where her crew encountered the alien species, now a colony, to investigate a loss of contact.
source: imdb.com
Platoon
Written by: Oliver Stone
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe
Country: United States of America
Outline: A young recruit in the Vietnam War faces moral dilemmas and the brutal realities of combat. The film delves into the psychological and physical challenges soldiers endure during the conflict.
source: imdb.com
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Written by: John Hughes
Directed by: John Hughes
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara
Country: United States of America
Outline: High school senior Ferris Bueller skips school for a day of adventure in Chicago, enlisting his friends to join him. The film follows their escapades as they evade the school's dean and Ferris's sister.
source: imdb.com
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Written by: Leonard Nimoy, Harve Bennett
Directed by: Leonard Nimoy
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
Country: United States of America
Outline: The crew of the Starship Enterprise travels back in time to 20th-century Earth to retrieve humpback whales, aiming to save the planet from an alien probe. Their mission involves navigating 1980s San Francisco.
source: imdb.com
Top Gun
Written by: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.
Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
Country: United States of America
Outline: Naval aviator Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell attends the elite Fighter Weapons School, known as 'Top Gun,' where he competes to be the best pilot. The film explores his rivalry with fellow pilot Iceman and his relationship with instructor Charlie.
source: imdb.com
Back to School
Written by: Gregory McDonald, Steven Kampmann, Will Porter
Directed by: Alan Metter
Starring: Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young
Country: United States of America
Outline: A wealthy businessman enrolls in college to support his son, leading to comedic situations as he navigates campus life. The film follows his unconventional approach to education and his relationship with his son.
source: imdb.com
Crocodile Dundee
Written by: Paul Hogan
Directed by: Peter Faiman
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon
Country: Australia
Outline: An American reporter travels to the Australian outback to meet eccentric poacher Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee and invites him to New York City, where he comes face-to-face with the complexities of modern life.
source: imdb.com
The Golden Child
Written by: Dennis Feldman
Directed by: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Charlotte Lewis, Charles Dance
Country: United States of America
Outline: A private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child whom dark forces want to eliminate.
source: imdb.com
Kin-dza-dza!
Written by: Yuri Durov, Georgiy Daneliya
Directed by: Georgiy Daneliya
Starring: Aleksandr Bashirov, Leonid Kharitonov, Yevgeny Yevstigneyev
Country: Russian Federation
Outline: Two Soviet men are transported to a desolate, dystopian planet where they encounter a society with a rigid caste system and bizarre customs.
source: imdb.com
Stand by Me
Written by: Raynold Gideon, Bruce A. Evans
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman
Country: United States of America
Outline: After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing child.
source: imdb.com
The Sacrifice
Written by: Andrei Tarkovsky
Directed by: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall, Valérie Mairesse, Sven Wollter
Country: Sweden
Outline: At the dawn of World War III, a man searches for a way to restore peace to the world and finds he must give something in return.
source: imdb.com
Castle in the Sky
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui
Country: Japan
Outline: A young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant is pursued by agents from a shadowy organization while searching for her kidnapped father, and a floating island with a magical crystal.
source: imdb.com
Hannah and Her Sisters
Written by: Woody Allen
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Carrie Fisher, Maureen O'Sullivan
Country: United States of America
Outline: The intertwined lives of three sisters, their parents, and their friends over two years, exploring love, relationships, and family dynamics.
source: imdb.com
Manon of the Spring
Written by: Claude Berri, Gérard Brach, Marcel Pagnol
Directed by: Claude Berri
Starring: Emmanuelle Béart, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Hippolyte Girardot
Country: France
Outline: Manon, a young woman, seeks revenge against the men who caused her father's death and the drying up of her village's spring.
source: imdb.com
Down by Law
Written by: Jim Jarmusch
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Ellen Barkin
Country: United States of America
Outline: Three men from different walks of life are thrown together in a Louisiana prison and form an unlikely bond as they plan an escape.
source: imdb.com
Blue Velvet
Written by: David Lynch
Directed by: David Lynch
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Country: United States of America
Outline: A college student returns to his hometown and discovers a severed human ear, leading him into a dark underworld involving a nightclub singer and a psychopathic gangster.
source: en.wikipedia.org
The Name of the Rose
Written by: Andrew Birkin, Gérard Brach, Howard Franklin, Alain Godard
Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., William Hickey, Michael Lonsdale, Ron Perlman, Christian Slater, Valentina Vargas
Country: Italy
Outline: In 1327, a Franciscan friar and his apprentice investigate a series of mysterious deaths at a Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy.
source: en.wikipedia.org
Hoosiers
Written by: Angelo Pizzo
Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper
Country: United States of America
Outline: A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship in 1950s Indiana.
source: imdb.com
Chameli Ki Shaadi
Written by: Basu Chatterjee, Prakash Mehra, Om Prakash Sharma
Directed by: Basu Chatterjee
Starring: Anil Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Amjad Khan, Om Prakash, Bharati Achrekar, Annu Kapoor
Country: India
Outline: In a small town, Charandas intends to marry Chameli, but he is poor and his plans clash with those of his father and those of his wrestling trainer.
source: rottentomatoes.com
The Mission
Written by: Robert Bolt
Directed by: Roland Joffé
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, Ronald Pickup
Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Outline: In 18th-century South America, a Jesuit priest and a mercenary join forces to protect a Guarani community from Portuguese slave traders.
source: imdb.com
The Fly
Written by: David Cronenberg
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel, Leslie Carlson, George Chuvalo
Country: Canada
Outline: A brilliant but eccentric scientist becomes a human guinea pig for his own teleportation experiment, which goes awry, leading to a grotesque transformation.
source: imdb.com